Microchips and Vacuum Tubes
by kaelang12
Summary: Courier Six, made mute by the gunshot that should have ended her life, heads out into the unknowns of the Mojave Desert
1. Ain't That a Kick in the Head

It was almost second nature to her; putting together microchips and vacuum tubes. Alexei didn't even have to think about what goes where, which was a relief to her, as she still felt her her head pulsing from the stitches and painkillers.

 _Alexei tried to talk to Doc Mitchell, wanted to know who and where she was, but everytime her mouth opened, nonsense poured out. She could think clearly, but what came out was a mess. "What's wrong with me," she wanted to ask, as tears rolled down her face. It took Alexei all her courage not to fall to the floor in a crumpled heap._

 _Doc Mitchell embraced her slowly, and pat her shoulders in a paternal manner. "There, there, it's okay," he said with a calm tone. "I've seen this happen to other patients like you. What comes out doesn't match what you want to say, is that it?"_

 _Wiping the tears from her eyes, Alexei nodded. She tapped her bandaged head as her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, and grabbed his vest with her other hand tightly. It took a minute for her question to be understood by him: "Can you fix this?"_

 _He smiled sadly as he grabbed her hand calmly, and shook his head. "If there's a device out there to fix this, then I'm sad to say that I don't own it. Maybe in some far-off location or in some Brotherhood outpost, but for now, there's nothing that can be done to help you. When you leave, maybe you'll find something to help._ _Alexei nodded, and hugged Doc Mitchell before she got up and stretched before leaving his clinic. "Here's hoping," she thought, before stepping out into the Mojave._

After a few minutes of hand gestures and pointing, Alexei was sitting on a table of the Prospector Saloon picking apart and repairing the radio for Trudy _._ She didn't even want the caps for fixing it; for her, discovering what made the radio hum and sing was all Alexei needed to be happy. Although, the caps she got were able to get her a few bottles of Nuka-Cola, and the caffeine in the first sip she took helped her headache tremendously. She waved Trudy goodbye, as she followed Sunny Smiles outside towards her future.


	2. ED-E My Love

ED-E liked Six; she's such a nice gal.

When ED-E woke up, the first thing he saw was the happiness is her eyes; ED-E had never seen someone look at him like that before. What a great thing to wake up to! He hovered around Alexei for a moment before waiting for her to give him his first order. Only, she didn't say anything; why wasn't she telling him what to do?

Alexei looked at him sadly. She shook her head and turned to the table where he sat lifeless just moments before. Oh, no, did ED-E do something wrong?

After searching for paper and a pencil, she wrote _Can't talk. Sorry._ And held it up to ED-E, hoping that an Eyebot knew how to read. Thankfully, Alexei was rewarded with a low whistle in response to her muteness. ED-E sank a few inches lower to the ground in sadness before returning to his usual "height." Without even thinking, she repeated the same whistle in response. ED-E bounced up and down in surprise. The lady _could_ talk! She could talk just like ED-E! Maybe ED-E could help!

Steadying himself, ED-E slowly let out a [*PHOO-WEE*], and when Alexei remained silent, he repeated it again until he saw the look in her eyes. Did she get understand him finally?

"*phooo-weee*," she whistled slowly. She whistled it again and nodded her head. _Does this mean yes?,_ she wondered. She got her response, as ED-E circled around her several times. She got it! ED-E was ecstatic.

"*phoo-wee*?"

[*PHOO-WEE*]

Alexei thought for a moment, and steadied ED-E in her hands and as she shook her head, thought about the right way to say no. "*phee-hwoo*" ED-E hovered, unsure of what she meant.

[?] [REPEAT INPUT]

"*phee-hwoo*," she repeated, as she shook her head again and prayed he understood.

Once more ED-E circled her in excitement and placed his face against hers and chirped happily. She could feel the warmth radiating off of him. _I should fix his heat output soon. He might need more coolant._

[USER HAS FULFILLED VOCAL DIAMETERS] [FURTHER TESTING REQUIRED AT LATER DATE]

Alexei pointed to herself and held up six fingers.

[SIX?] [YOU ARE SIX?]

"*phoo-hwee*", she answered with a smile. _I think I can get the hang of this._

[AGREEABLE RESPONSE] [USER_SIX HAS ACHIEVED SATISFIABLE VOCAL OUTPUT AT CURRENT MENTAL STATE]

With a satisfied smile, Six walked toward the door, and waited for ED-E to follow her. If ED-E could get her to talk again, then he maybe he could help her in other ways across the Mojave. She pointed her head towards the Bison Steve Hotel and whistled for him to come.

[USER_SIX HAS REQUESTED FURTHER COMPANIONSHIP] [REQUEST ACCEPTED]


	3. Those!

As far back as Alexei could remember, which currently really wasn't that far, she always had a soft spot for the creatures of the Wasteland. One of the very few memories she had of Back Then was being shouted at for refusing to shoot Yao Guais or mole rats. It seemed to pay off, somewhat. Whenever she made the stray visit to Sloan, Snuffles would always tail behind her, grunting happily. She always saved stray bits of meat for geckos and nightstalkers, which sometimes ended poorly, as she's woken up more than once to several nightstalkers staring at her, waiting for handouts. This always led to a very confused ED-E, who usually "woke up" before Alexei, and tended to forget that most Wasteland beasts adored her. This was often followed by the sounds of lasers, then the screeching of animals, ending with Alexei jumping up and shooting the closest moving object, which was often ED-E. Poor ED-E.

I say all of this, of course, in order to state that while Alexei loved every four-legged animal, she hated bugs _with a passion_. She killed insects with the same cold apathy she had towards the Legion. Radroaches gave her goosebumps, radscorpions were quickly torched, cazadores got turned into green goo, and fire ants made her shudder with a forgotten memory from Back Then. Alexei could never figure out where this hatred came from; whenever she thought hard enough about it, all she got for her troubles were headaches and nightmares that repeated for several nights. Where did they come from, anyway?

 _The fire in the cave was dim, and Alexei was too scared to go out in search for more wood. It wouldn't help anyway; all she had was a pistol with no ammo, and a bat encrusted with rapidly drying radroach guts. Her improvised bandage was starting to make her face itch. She stared at the city that stood several yards away from her hastily-made shelter and then looked down at her Pip-Boy. 5:30. Almost dawn. Alexei sighed in relief, which was short-lived as she heard a scuttling noise a short distance away from the cave. She hastily took cover behind a rock, and quickly looked over the rock to see a giant…scorpion? Why was it so huge? Her breathing got heavier, and she ducked back down hoping that it wouldn't notice her. She'd never forget the noise it made; the eight chitinous legs clacking against the rocks and gravel. It's hissing sounded like her potential future, her own death rattle ringing in her ears. She just had to hold out, it was almost dawn. She had to live; for Dad._


	4. Fly Me to the Moon

[USER_SIX] was still looking into the broken piece of glass, ED-E noticed. Every so often her fingers would graze the newly uncovered scar on her forehead, and flinch from touching the sensitive tissue.

ED-E took another look at her scar; it seemed whole at first, but a closer glimpse showed it was not one, but two, connected to each other by a thin line of slowly healing stitches. To him it looked the stars. In fact, they looked just like the ones that [USER_SIX] would show him at night. They were so pretty, and they even glowed like her Pipboy!

He hovered over to [USER-SIX], who was still sitting against a log and making no attempt to get up.

[WILL DERMAL ABRASION RECOVER?]

"*no*," [USER_SIX] answered solemnly. At least she was talking again; she could tell him "*yes*" and "*no*", and to her joy she discovered that non-verbal noises could still be used. It couldn't quite replace a pencil and paper, but at least it was something.

She looked at ED-E, before placing the mirror shard down. With one hand touching her scar, and the other hand slowly grazing one of the scratches on ED-E's casing. Just because they both had scars didn't mean that there was anything wrong with them.

[STARS]

"Hmm?"

[DERMAL ABRASIONS RESEMBLE DESIGNATION: STARS]

There it was; the smile that ED-E first saw upon viewing [USER_SIX]! It made him happy to see her smile again. It was something that she didn't do enough of.

The stretch she took seemed far too long as she got up. There were still stars in the sky as the sun rose, but it was time for them to head to their next destination. After all, [USER_SIX] was curious about the huge statues in the distance.

As they walked (well, she walked; ED-E hovered), [USER_SIX] began to hum. ED-E knew the song, but he wished he knew where. Maybe someone else sang it for him.

"* _Fly me to the moon,  
and let me play among the stars_*"


	5. Take It Back!

The two statues next to the NCR outpost almost caused Alexei to fall down as she lifted her head to look up at them. She was glad that it was nighttime; getting blinded by the sun again wasn't in her schedule. The last time it happened, she ended up beating a cactus to a pulp along with the feral ghoul hiding behind it.

Many of the abandoned trucks on the highway were thankfully open, which meant Alexei had a plethora of sleeping places to choose from. Settling down in the one closest to the outpost, she continued to look at the illuminated statues. Their sheer size was something that she had never seen before; at least, that's what she thought. It only took a minute before her thoughts started drifting.

 _They look like giant action figures._

 _What would happen if they started moving?_

 _Maybe they're secretly robots. There are weirder things that exist, so it's a possibility. Have I seen giant robots before? I think I have. I might've seen one Back Then._

 _Alexei nearly falls over as she looks up at the pinnacle of technology that stands before her. Liberty Prime is what the Brotherhood calls it; a culmination of years of hard work and dedication._

 _She still couldn't believe that she was here; it almost feels like Vault 101 was a distant memory. The only proof she had to remind her was the scar running down her cheek after Officer O'Brian tried to stop Alexei from leaving. He tried._

 _It was almost too easy to feel a kinship to the hulking mech in front of her. Starting from nothing, and becoming a force to be reckoned with. But Prime was never alone; it had people working 24/7 for it to be ready._

 _But Alexei was alone._

 _Sure, she had friends in nearly every location, and even a home in Megaton, but there was no one that followed her into the Wasteland. It's what she wanted. She didn't know what would happen if she saw someone die because of her again._

 _Looking at the time on her Pip-Boy, Alexei walked towards the stairs and headed to the sleeping quarters. She needed the energy for tomorrow; Project Purity was waiting._

[USER_SIX] was getting that look in her eye again, ED-E noticed. It always worried him. What if it happened when they were in trouble? If only [USER_SIX] could tell about it properly; but ED-E didn't know how to make that happen. He could only hope, and pray that [USER_SIX] would get better soon.


End file.
